RIYADH: Oil prices fell on Monday, deepening a multi-week decline, as a weakening global economy offset supply woes stemming from the closure of a key pipeline supplying the US and the Russian threat of a production cut. Brent crude futures were down 79 cents, or 1.04 percent, at $75.31 a barrel by 01.15 p.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $70.30 a barrel, down 72 cents, or 1.01 percent. Last week, Brent and WTI fell to their lowest since December 2021 amid concerns that a possible global recession will impact oil demand. Iraq hopes only economic factors will influence oil prices: Minister Iraq hopes that economic factors remain the only influence on oil prices, and it is keen to avoid a crisis in the global oil market, the country"s oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said on Monday, according to a Reuters report. “We hope there is no more politicization of oil,” Abdel-Ghani told Reuters, responding to a question on the impact of a Western price cap on Russian oil and possible cuts in oil production by Moscow in retaliation. Earlier in December, after the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its allies, known as OPEC+, Abdel-Ghani said that OPEC is committed to production quotas through the end of 2023. On Dec. 4, OPEC+ agreed to roll over its existing output policy, just a day after the Group of Seven nations decided to put a price cap on Russian energy supplies. Earlier in October, OPEC+ had agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day, which equals to about 2 percent of world demand, from November until the end of 2023. Russia’s Sakhalin sees oil output falling 44 percent in 2022: Interfax Oil production at the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin is expected to fall by 44 percent this year to around 9 million tons, Interfax news agency cited a local official on Monday. Oil output at Sakhalin, which produces Sokol grade for exports to Asia, collapsed after the US energy major Exxon Mobil left Russia following the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Alexei Uspensky, Sakhalin’s minister for economic development, said oil output was 16 million tons in 2021, according to Interfax. In 2023 — 2025 the output will reach 14 million tons per year, which is 57 percent more than in 2022, he said. (With input from Reuters)